


Bring Her Back

by Mini_Megido (Sweet_Spice_Sour_Sugar)



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Baby Steven, Gen, bad babysitter, pearl is a little sad, sad things
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-02
Updated: 2015-09-02
Packaged: 2018-04-18 14:46:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,009
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4709819
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sweet_Spice_Sour_Sugar/pseuds/Mini_Megido
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Pearl misses Rose</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bring Her Back

**Author's Note:**

> Fic was inspired by ---> http://three-legged-cow.tumblr.com/post/128066484352   
> I don't even think I do it justice.

It had only been a few months since Rose had given up her being, her very life force, to bring Steven into the world. For Pearl, a gem who had been around for more than a millennium, a gem who had seen time move around faster than any force in the universe, those few months were the longest in her life. If gems had hearts, there was no doubt in her mind that hers would be broken beyond repair. Destroyed. Unfixable, even.

Despite what should have been an obvious mood, Pearl pretended to be happy. For Amethyst. For Garnet. For little baby Steven, who now had Rose’s gem despite being part human. Even when Greg held him tight and almost pretended like Rose never existed in the first place (a coping mechanism, Pearl would later discover), Pearl found she could just not be unhappy with this small, adorable child.

Over the course of a few weeks, however, Pearl found herself wondering. Why did Rose give up her physical form for this human? Why was it for Greg, who Pearl detested and found to be a rather strange human being. What made him so special? Rose had loved other humans before him. Rose had loved her, and Amethyst and Garnet and she planned on leaving them with something that could barely walk by itself? It was such a ridiculous idea!

Pearl wasn’t about to question Rose, though. Her darling Rose had never been wrong. But she still had one more question: was there a way to bring Rose back? Steven was a human, almost merely a vessel for Rose’s gem. It was like the necklaces and rings that were embedded with gems. A. Mere. Vessel.

And if that were true, then there must be a way to release Rose from this vessel. By destruction.

When Amethyst and Garnet left Pearl alone with Steven, she wasn’t sure what she was supposed to do with him. For a while, he just laid there on the wooden floor, his little limbs kicking around while he gurgled and giggled at a fly that buzzed around his head. Pearl was sitting far back, curled up on the couch while she watched this _alien_ thing, making sure it wasn’t going to hurt itself. From a distance. Where she didn’t have to touch it.

Now that she was alone, it was very tempting for her to try out her theory. Amethyst and Garnet weren’t here to stop her. Greg was nowhere to be seen. There was nothing stopping her. So Pearl found her sword, and stood over the young child. It was raised above her head, glistening in the afternoon light. Rose would be okay with this. Rose would come back. Everything would be normal again.

Pearl knelt down before the wriggling child, holding her breath. He stared up at her with wide eyes, a hand in his mouth and rubbing along the gums that would soon grow teeth. Pearl had her hands clutching the grip tight, as she plunged the blade down towards Steven.

And into the wood above his head.

She loomed over him for a moment. Eyes wide as the baby simply just kept babbling on to himself. His hands were tugging at his shirt to reveal the pink gem in place of his belly button. Her hands slid down and caught on the guard of the sword. She pressed her face into her inner elbow, and cried.

She hadn’t cried since Steven was born. The sadness was overwhelming, surging over her in tidal waves. Her shoulders shook and she let out a long, depressing keen, almost like a bird. Tears rolled down her cheeks and dripped onto Steven, onto the floor. If she had a heart, there was no doubt that it would have slowed down. It would have stopped. She would not have been able to go on.

Pearl missed Rose in the most horrible way possible; with every inch of her being. She needed her. She wanted her _back._ Not this strange, half alien creature that had replaced her loving friend. Destruction must have been the only way to release her.

But she couldn’t do it. This child, this young boy, _Steven._ He hadn’t even registered what Pearl had been about to do, but he still looked up at her like she was his everything. This little boy kept gurgling and sniffling even though his life had just been in danger. Pearl could not destroy him.

She pulled away from the sword and scooped him up into her arms, holding him against her chest. “Oh, my goodness.” She whispered to him, wiping tears away from her cheeks with the base of her hand. 

“Oh, Steven. I can’t believe I was about to do that.” She sat with her legs crossed, bouncing the little boy in her arms. He giggled in delight, and Pearl smiled. Rose wouldn’t have wanted Steven to die. Pearl shouldn’t have wanted him to die. He was far too precious, far too important.

Rose probably had a plan for all of this, why else would Steven exist? If she did have a plan, then Pearl’s job was obvious.

“Someone’s going to have to mother you.” She whispered to the child, tugging his shirt into place. “Someone’s going to have to care for you and make sure you get all the vitamins and minerals you need, so you can grow up to be strong. That someone is definitely not going to be Amethyst!”

She took a deep breath and looked up at the ceiling, then she allowed her eyes to roam to the picture of Rose above the door. She cannot let her down. She has to do it for her. “I suppose that someone is going to have to be me.”

Pearl pressed a soft kiss to Steven’s head, stood up and went to find the bottled milk Greg had bought for them. If Steven was going to grow up to be a strong human, Amethyst had better stop pushing him down the sand dunes in a sleigh!

**Author's Note:**

> My tumblr is mini-megido! send fanfic requests there, for any fandom that's detailed on my page.


End file.
